Getting rid of Lara

The editor of the Wisden Cricketer magazine, John Stern, has written an editorial asking the question, “would the West Indies be better off without Brian Lara in the side?”. It is an interesting thought, but a better one might be "how can Brian Lara be managed?" Lara is an exceptional talent as a batsman but, as Stern points out, his reputation intimidates the rest of the side. Lara also seems to be a very polarising individual and the impression from the last Windies tour here was that there are players who flock around him and try to mimic him, and those who don't and who are therefore on the social outer. As New Zealand fans will remembers from the early '90s, a side with cliques in it is not really much of a side at all.

Everyone who has played sport has played alongside a personality - someone who has talent to burn and a huge amount of influence. I can think of two I have played alongside - one I admired and the other I did not - and ultimately both were bad for the team. One because others resented his influence and the second because his bad behaviour rubbed off onto youngsters who envied his talent and wanted to be like him. Being able to incorporate such a player into any side requires people around him who have the influence, if not the talent, to keep hero worship, intimidation, jealousy, indulgent behaviour and egotism in check.

One thing I feel quite strongly about is that Brian Lara should not be captain of the West Indies. And neither should anyone else in his posse. What the Windies could do with is someone strong enough (or perhaps someone with the management support to help them be strong enough) and influential enough to take the reins, bang some heads, break up the cliques and make sure the side understands that Brian Lara is simply another player - albiet a senior player who has a good deal of knowledge to contribute to the side.